Refrigerator with door opening device
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsJae Hoon Lim, Jae Myung Han, Jong Eon Si
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A refrigerator allowing a user to easily open a door of a refrigerator with less force, including a main body having an upper storage compartment and a lower storage compartment, a door sliding to open and close any of the storage compartments, a handle vertically rotatable relative to the door, a plurality of push members moving to advanced positions from retreated positions by the vertical rotation of the handle to separate the door from the main body, and an elastic member between at least one of the push members and the door to restore the push members to the retreated positions when an external force is removed from the handle.
Claims11
A refrigerator comprising:
- a main body having an upper storage compartment and a lower storage compartment;
- a sliding door to open and close the lower storage compartment;
- a handle disposed at an upper portion of the sliding door to be vertically rotatable, the handle including a grip rod having a length substantially corresponding to a width of the sliding door, and a pair of levers extending from opposite ends of the grip rod, respectively;
- a pair of push members disposed at an upper end of the sliding door at positions corresponding to the levers, respectively, to move forward and backward, the push members moving in accordance with upward rotation of the handle to space the sliding door from the main body;
- rotation shafts to rotatably support the handle;
- seating grooves disposed at the upper end of the sliding door at positions corresponding to opposite ends of each of the rotation shafts, respectively, the seating grooves being opened upward to receive the opposite ends of each of the rotation shafts, so as to support the rotation shafts;
- anti-separation pieces coupled at the upper end of the sliding door to cover opened portions of the seating grooves, so as to prevent each of the rotation shafts from being separated from the seating grooves;
- and
- coupling grooves extending from the levers to be fitted to said rotation shafts, respectively.
A refrigerator comprising:
- a main body having an upper storage compartment and a lower storage compartment;
- a sliding door to open and close the lower storage compartment;
- a handle disposed at an upper portion of the sliding door to be vertically rotatable, the handle including a grip rod disposed at the upper portion of the sliding door while extending horizontally, and a pair of levers at opposite ends of the grip rod, respectively;
- a pair of push members disposed at an upper end of the sliding door at positions corresponding to the levers, respectively, to move forward and backward, the push members moving in accordance with upward rotation of the handle to space the sliding door from the main body;
- a pair of pressing portions extending from the levers to engage the push members, respectively;
- rotation shafts to rotatably support the handle;
- seating grooves disposed at the upper end of the sliding door at positions corresponding to opposite ends of each of the rotation shafts, respectively, the seating grooves being opened upward to receive the opposite ends of each of the rotation shafts, so as to support the rotation shafts;
- anti-separation pieces coupled at the upper end of the sliding door to cover opened portions of the seating grooves, so as to prevent each of the rotation shafts from being separated from the seating grooves;
- and
- coupling grooves extending from the levers to be fitted to rotation shafts, respectively,
- wherein the push members press against the main body in accordance with the upward rotation of the handle, thereby spacing the sliding door from the main body, and
- wherein the handle is returned to an original position as the handle is rotated downward by a weight of the handle after the upward rotation of the handle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.